how to restrain a baby for cath lab procedure

Specialties Cardiac

Published

hi i am new to cath lab and was hoping someone could provide information on how they position and restrain pediatric patients for a cath lab procedure.

in the hospital where i work, we usually place a small towel under the hips to elevate the groin area for better access but then we tape the legs down multiple times with regular tape! i just wanted to know if that is a standard across all cath labs (to use tape to strap down a baby) or if there is a better way of doing it! thanks for helping !

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Babies undergoing cardiac caths will be anesthetized. Positioning will be similar to what you do for adults but you shouldn't need to tape their legs down with multiple strips of tape, just whatever is needed to maintain optimal positioning.

Typically you don't want to put tape on a baby's skin. It can cause serious skin tears, etc. In most of the places I've worked, we can't tape directly to the skin for ANY reason. We use velcro restraints when femoral access is needed, similar to what is used for circumcisions. However, ideally a baby should be sedated or anesthetized.

I work in a paediatric cardiology ward. All our children/babies/teenagers are put under GA for cath lab procedures

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